B. B. Warfield Quotes on Scripture, Grace, Christ and Prayer
B. B. Warfield taught theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887 until his death in 1921. He's remembered as a careful scholar, but he also wrote short, clear sentences that stick. Some of his best lines come from his sermons and chapel talks, where the scholar speaks as a pastor.
Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter it comes from, so you can read each one in its setting. For his life story, see who was B. B. Warfield. For a guide to all his books, see B. B. Warfield books.
On the Bible
Warfield's name is tied to the inspiration of Scripture. He held that the Bible is God's word and man's word at once, and fully trustworthy.
What is filled with God will certainly be redolent of God, and what is redolent of God will certainly breathe out God.
Revelation and Inspiration, "God-Inspired Scripture"
Every word of the Bible is the word of God according to the doctrine we are discussing; but also and just as truly, every word is the word of a man.
Revelation and Inspiration, Inspiration and Criticism
No single error has as yet been demonstrated to occur in the Scriptures as given by God to His Church.
Revelation and Inspiration, The Real Problem of Inspiration
For not only have we no Christ but Him whom we receive at the apostles' hands, but this Christ is committed to the trustworthiness of the apostles as teachers.
Revelation and Inspiration, The Real Problem of Inspiration
A proved error in Scripture contradicts not only our doctrine, but the Scripture claims, and therefore its inspiration in making those claims.
Inspiration (with A. A. Hodge), Critical Objections Tried
Let us bless God, then, for His inspired word!
Revelation and Inspiration, Inspiration and Criticism
On God and the Trinity
He believed we know God's deepest nature only because God has shown it to us.
In point of fact, the doctrine of the Trinity is purely a revealed doctrine.
Biblical Doctrines, The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity
The Old Testament may be likened to a chamber richly furnished but dimly lighted; the introduction of light brings into it nothing which was not in it before
Biblical Doctrines, The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity
There can be no communion between the holy and the sinful.
Faith and Life, God's Holiness and Ours
On grace and salvation
Warfield's whole theology came down to this: God saves, and we don't save ourselves.
Man provides only the sinner to be saved: God provides the entire salvation.
The Power of God unto Salvation, Paul's Earliest Gospel
The Gospel, to Paul, consists precisely in this: that we do nothing to earn our salvation or to secure it for ourselves.
Faith and Life, The Alien Righteousness
The contrast is between the righteousness which a man can make for himself and the righteousness that God gives him.
Faith and Life, The Alien Righteousness
Our passage empties man of all glory in the matter of salvation and reserves all the glory to God.
Faith and Life, The Way of Life
We are bought unto God by Christ in order that we may be brought to God by the Holy Spirit.
Faith and Life, The Way of Life
Is it God the Lord that saves us, or is it we ourselves?
The Plan of Salvation, Universalism
Wrath may prepare for love; but wrath never did and never will save a soul.
Faith and Life, The Cause of God
On Jesus Christ
His sermons keep turning the hearer's eyes away from self and toward Christ.
To them indeed Jesus is the Gospel; and where Jesus is not, there there is no gospel at all.
The Saviour of the World, Jesus Only
We have but one Saviour; and that one Saviour is Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Power of God unto Salvation, The Saving Christ
Until Jesus had died for us there was nothing for us to do but to die.
The Saviour of the World, The Gospel of Paul
If you would know what man is, in the height of His divine idea, look at Jesus Christ.
The Power of God unto Salvation, The Revelation of Man
Nothing that is human is alien to Him except sin.
Biblical Doctrines, The Person of Christ
The hands that were pierced with the nails of the cross wield the sceptre.
The Saviour of the World, The Glorified Christ
Remember that you serve a living, not a dead Christ.
The Saviour of the World, The Glorified Christ
The resurrection of Christ is the fundamental apologetical fact of Christianity.
The Saviour of the World, The Risen Jesus
On the love of God
Warfield read John 3:16 as a wide, generous love, and he preached it with feeling.
The greatness of the love of God, the immeasurable greatness of the love of God!
The Saviour of the World, God's Immeasurable Love
When all are in equal need of salvation, where is there room for censorious complaint of the goodness of God?
The Saviour of the World, The Prodigal Son
On the Holy Spirit
He wrote about the Spirit's love with a tenderness that surprises people who know him only as a debater.
No leprous sores can be as foul in the eyes of the daintiest bred as sin is foul in the eyes of the Holy Ghost.
The Power of God unto Salvation, The Love of the Holy Ghost
His continuance with us is conditioned only on His own love for us.
The Power of God unto Salvation, The Love of the Holy Ghost
The prophet is "borne" of the Spirit; the child of God is "led."
The Power of God unto Salvation, The Leading of the Spirit
The function of the witness of the Spirit of God is, therefore, to give to our halting conclusions the weight of His Divine certitude.
Faith and Life, The Spirit's Testimony to Our Sonship
On prayer
For Warfield, prayer was more than asking. It was all of our dealing with God.
Prayer in its full conception is then, not merely asking from God, but all intercourse with God.
Faith and Life, Prayer as a Means of Grace
In short, all conscious communion with God is prayer.
Faith and Life, Prayer as a Practice
If you are suffering go in prayer; if you are in joy go in praise.
Faith and Life, Prayer as a Practice
All prayer that is acceptable and reaches the ears of God, therefore, is prayer that is conveyed to Him through Jesus Christ.
Faith and Life, Prayer as a Practice
On the Christian life
Last, some lines on trust, suffering and service.
Trust, simple, utter trust, that is the pathway to the Kingdom.
Faith and Life, Childlikeness
God never intended to carry us to the skies on flowery beds of ease.
Faith and Life, Childship to God
Maybe we do not know what we need — God does.
Faith and Life, All Things Working Together for Good
The path of self-sacrifice is the path to glory.
The Saviour of the World, Imitating the Incarnation
Let all thought of our dignity, our possessions, our rights, perish out of sight, when Christ's service calls to us.
The Saviour of the World, Imitating the Incarnation
We believe in a wonder-working God; but not in a wonder-working church.
Counterfeit Miracles, Patristic and Mediaeval Marvels
Where to read more Warfield
These lines come from all eight of his books in the library. If you want to read one book of his first, try Faith and Life, forty-one short addresses that show both his exact Bible study and his warm heart. For his sermons, read The Saviour of the World. All his books are listed on the B. B. Warfield author page, and our reading guide explains which to read for what.